COSTA MESA — Philip Rivers has thrown 167 interceptions in his 14-plus seasons as an NFL quarterback, and in fact has led the league in picks twice. So he knows the drill.

And if he lets slip an involuntary shudder the first time he looks over the line at the Coliseum on Sunday and sees Marcus Peters on the other side, I suspect he’ll keep that to himself.

The matchup within the matchup when the Chargers and Rams get together Sunday is intriguing enough that there’s no sense cluttering the game with any of that “fight for L.A.” ridiculousness.

On one side you have Rivers, who has thrown for more than 4,000 yards in eight of the past nine seasons, is the undisputed face of his franchise and, at 36, shows little sign of being motivated to retreat to his rocking chair.

On the other side? Peters, who had a pick-six opening night in Oakland (and got fined for his, er, impromptu celebration), has 20 interceptions in three-plus NFL seasons. Four of those have been against Rivers, one in 2016 and three last season for the Kansas City Chiefs.

Also on the other side? Aqib Talib, who has picked off Rivers once in his career but, like Peters, saw Rivers and the Chargers twice a season as a Denver Bronco, and has a good idea of what to expect and how to counter it.

And the Rams’ defensive mastermind goes back even further with the Chargers quarterback. Wade Phillips was Marty Schottenheimer’s defensive coordinator in San Diego when Rivers entered the league in 2004, and for more than a decade Rivers practiced daily against the 3-4 scheme introduced by Phillips in San Diego and continued by his successors as Chargers defensive coordinator, Ted Cottrell, Ron Rivera and John Pagano.

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Who, exactly, has the edge here?

The familiarity “does help, because you understand what they’re trying to do,” Chargers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt said. “But it also hurts, because they know what you do and how you adjust to what they do.

” … Honestly, I think you could flip a coin. It depends. If we hit a play, oh, yeah, it helps. If they hit us with one, oh, yeah, it helped with them. When you play with guys at this level, especially with (this caliber) talent on the field, the margins are so tight it could go either way.”

From the standpoint of recent results, the first impulse is to give the edge to the Rams. They haven’t allowed a point in six quarters, and in that span have allowed opponents past midfield on just four plays (three by the Raiders in Week 1, one by Arizona on the last play of the game last Sunday). Then again, the Chargers represent a far greater threat offensively than either the Raiders or Cardinals.

“I’d say it’s much of the same, this defense, as far as a typical Wade Phillips defense,” Rivers said. “There’s a lot of Pro Bowl players, a lot of really good players. They don’t try to trick you with their scheme. They just line up and say they’re better than you. That works for ’em a lot of the time.”

Which brings us to what may be the most fun aspect of Sunday’s matchup. The Rams cornerbacks (including Nickell Robey-Coleman, Sam Shields and Troy Hill as well as Peters and Talib) will play straight up, one-on-one coverage against the Chargers’ receivers and dare them to get open.
New Rams cornerbacks Aqib Talib, left, and Marcus Peters, right, are quite familiar with Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers. Peters intercepted three Rivers passes in two games last season. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)

“Certain guys on certain teams are really good corners but they play a lot of zone,” Rivers said. “These guys play man and they make it tough on you. You hear people talk about a football game being one-on-one matchups. This game will truly be that.”

Complicating matters will be the defensive front of Aaron Donald, Ndamukong Suh and Michael Brockers. I can’t believe someone in the Rams PR or marketing department, with a nod to NFL history, hasn’t yet produced a Monsters Of The Freeway ad, or poster or something, featuring those three.

(And if you do, folks, you’re welcome.)

“I been playin’ against Philip since I’ve been a rookie, so I kinda know exactly how he’s gonna hit us,” Peters told reporters at the Rams training facility Wednesday. “Now it just helps that I got ‘Lib (Talib) on the other side. I got J.J. (strong safety John Johnson III). I got L (free safety Lamarcus Joyner) … I got A.D. (Donald), I got Suh, I got Brockers.

“I got some people who can help me.”

There almost certainly will be a few wrinkles Rivers will recognize from all of those reps he’s had against Phillips defenses, either on the practice field in San Diego or as an opponent (2011-13 as Houston’s defensive coordinator, ’15-16 in Denver). But will they be tells, or will they be decoys?

“I don’t think we’re going to fool them,” Rivers said. “Knowing Wade, I don’t think he’s over there drawing up plays to fool us … (though) he may sprinkle in something we haven’t seen in a while.”

While Peters has burned Rivers frequently — including two interceptions last year in a critical December loss at Kansas City that helped keep the Chargers out of the playoffs — expect Rivers to go at Peters when he thinks it’s appropriate, just because.

“He’s gonna go out there and he’s gonna make you pull your best out because he’s going to come at you,” Peters said. “I love playing against him. I lo-o-ove what he does, and that’s not just trying to be sarcastic because of my play against him. That’s just me saying I love the way he approaches the game. I love the kind of competitor he is.”

History, in this case, is immaterial.

“It’s not one of those matchups that we say, ‘shoot, we’re not going to throw it at all.’ ” Rivers said. “Years ago we’d gone into games where we said, ‘All right, there’s a no-throw zone in this area.’

“You may say, ‘Well, you may need it because you’ve thrown Peters so many in the last few years.’ … But at the same time, we feel like our receivers, Keenan (Allen) and all of our guys, will have some opportunities.”

As we said, Rivers knows the drill. Sometimes they burn you, and sometimes you burn them.

Rich Hammond of the Southern California News Group contributed to this column.

Jim Alexander is an Inland Empire native who started with his hometown newspaper, The Press-Enterprise, longer ago than he cares to admit. He's been a sports columnist off and on since 1992, and a full-time columnist since 2010. Yes, he's opinionated, but no, that's not the only club in his bag. He's covered every major league and major sports beat in Southern California over the years, so not much surprises him any more. (And he and Justin Turner have this in common: Both attended Cal State Fullerton. Jim has no plans to replicate Turner's beard.)